


Milly-Molly-Mandy Helps Out

by fawatson



Category: Milly-Molly-Mandy - Joyce Lancaster Brisley
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-06
Updated: 2015-09-06
Packaged: 2018-04-19 10:19:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4742666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fawatson/pseuds/fawatson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Milly Molly Mandy is rewarded for being helpful.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Milly-Molly-Mandy Helps Out

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Greer Watson (greerwatson)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/greerwatson/gifts).



> **Disclaimer:** I do not own these characters and make no profit by them.

Once upon a time, on one especially fine day, Milly-Molly-Mandy went for a drive with Uncle. It was so warm Mother made her wear her straw hat with the wide brim to keep the sun off her face. Milly-Molly-Mandy felt very grown up wearing Mother’s hat. She sat beside Uncle in the high pony-trap and waved to little-friend-Susan as they passed by her house, and then waved to Billy Blunt as they passed the corn shop where he lives on their way to the town two miles away where there was a market. 

When they arrived, there was such a bustle it took Uncle some time to find a place to leave Twinkletoes, where it wouldn’t be too noisy and he could enjoy a quiet munch in his nosebag. Uncle told Milly-Molly-Mandy to stay close so she wouldn’t get lost and she held his hand as they walked quite a long way to get back to the town square. To her surprise, Uncle didn’t go round the market-stalls. Instead he crossed the square and went to a shop on one corner that sold ladders and hammers and wood and lampshades and all sorts of useful things. 

“Now Milly-Molly-Mandy,” said Uncle, “I need your help with choosing. We’re buying some paint to decorate the spare bedroom at home and I don’t know what colour to get. Do you think you could help?”

Milly-Molly-Mandy nodded, feeling quite excited. She had never chosen paint before.

The shop assistant took them to the back of the store and showed them rows and rows of tins of paint. Each tin had a label showing the colour that was inside. There were all different colours, as many as were in a rainbow and even more besides! Milly-Molly-Mandy couldn’t think which would be best. 

“What colour do you think your Mother would like?” asked Uncle. 

“Her best dress is blue,” said Milly-Molly-Mandy. “Maybe she’d like the paint to match,” and she pointed to a paint tin with deep blue on the label. 

“That might look too dark on the walls,” said Uncle. “That room is just a little one and its window is none too big either.”

Milly-Molly-Mandy pointed to a tin of yellow paint. “That would be nice and bright,” she said thoughtfully, “only, maybe too bright and I don’t think Muvver really likes yellow.” 

“What would _you_ like Milly-Molly-Mandy?” asked Uncle. 

Without hesitation Milly-Molly-Mandy pointed to a tin of pale pink paint. 

Uncle laughed. “That looks pretty nice to me too,” he said, “and maybe some white gloss for the trim,” he added to the shop assistant. Uncle gave Milly-Molly-Mandy a penny to go to the sweet shop next door, while he paid for the paint. 

As they set the little brown pony, Twinkletoes, onto the road back home, Uncle said, “Thank you Milly-Molly-Mandy. You’ve been a big help.” They shared a long pink and white striped peppermint stick as they drove, and got home just in time for tea.

The next morning, Father didn’t get dressed in his normal clothes. When she came downstairs for breakfast, he was wearing some old trousers Milly-Molly-Mandy had not seen before, but she knew they were old from all the splatters of paint on them. The tins of paint she’d helped buy yesterday were stacked by the stairs. He was going to paint the room! She felt very excited.

“May I help Farver?” asked Milly-Molly-Mandy.

“You’ll have to wear something to cover up your clothes,” said Mother. “Go out to the shed and get some of that old newspaper.”

Milly-Molly-Mandy brought in as much as she could carry, and Mother unfolded the big sheets of paper and pinned them to her dress. Then Mother made a little paper hat for her to wear and helped her to push up all her hair inside it and fasten it securely with bobby pins, “so your hair won’t be covered in paint,” Mother said. 

Mother helped Milly-Molly-Mandy carry the rest of the newspapers upstairs to the spare room. It was completely clear. She wondered where the furniture had gone; but when she checked the large cupboard under the eaves she found it all wedged in there. Just at the front was an very small wooden bed that rocked side to side, carved with cunning little fieldmice and birds and shells and flowers. She'd never seen it before.

"What's this, Muvver?" she asked. 

"That's your old cradle," said Mother. "Your Grandpa carved it all by hand before you were born."

"But it's so small," exclaimed Milly-Molly-Mandy. 

"You were very small when you were born," explained Mother, "just the way little-friend-Susan's little baby sister was tiny when she first arrived. But you grew soon enough, so when you didn't fit it anymore we got you the cot-bed to sleep in." 

Her hands stroked the carved rose at the head of the cradle. "I hadn't the heart to give it away, so I stored it here instead." 

Milly-Molly-Mandy smiled; she wouldn’t have wanted them to have got rid of it either. She had a sudden thought. "Muvver, you could get a little baby sister for me, like the one little-friend-Susan has; and then we could use the cradle again." But Mother just laughed, "Maybe someday."

Mother then helped Milly-Molly-Mandy lay out the extra sheets of old newspaper over the floor, “to catch the splatters,” Mother explained, while Father opened the first tin of paint and put a little in an old tin can with a small brush for Milly-Molly-Mandy to use. 

They spent the day painting. Milly-Molly-Mandy did the low-down bits, like the skirting board (which got a new coat of white paint) and the bottom bits of the walls (where they went down to meet the skirting boards). Father did the high-up bits like the ceiling (also white) and the top part of the walls (which turned from a dingy off-white, with smudges where the furniture had rested against the sides of the room, to the lovely pale pink that somehow looked darker once it was on the walls). They met in the middle where the walls began to slant toward the ceiling. 

At the end of the day Father left the window wide open, “to air the room,” he said. And as they went downstairs, Father said, “Thank you Milly-Molly-Mandy. You’ve been a big help,” and he gave her _two_ pennies.

Milly-Molly-Mandy was really tired and almost fell asleep eating her potato, even though Mother had prepared it with lots of butter and a little salt and paper, just the way she liked it. After supper she went straight to bed. 

The next day was Sunday and the family all walked to church wearing their best clothes. The weather had stayed fine so they used the short cut across the field by the church. After the service, Milly-Molly-Mandy changed into her ordinary clothes and joined little-friend-Susan on the playing field. Some of the men from the village were playing cricket and the two friends helped by running after balls that went astray. At the end of the afternoon the team thanked them for being a big help and one of the men gave each of them a penny. 

That evening Aunty sat sewing four brand new curtains, each with a ruffle on top. She gave Milly-Molly-Mandy one of the large squares of pink and blue flowered cloth, and a needle and cotton, and showed her how to hem the bottom edge. By the end of the evening the curtains were all done and Aunty said, “Thank you Milly-Molly-Mandy. You’ve been a big help,” and she gave her a penny.

The next day, Milly-Molly-Mandy helped Mother wash the new curtains, and hang them out to dry before she ran off with Toby the dog to find someone to play with. But there was no answer at little-friend-Susan’s house and Billy Blunt said he had to weed the flower-bed again. So, instead of playing, Milly-Molly-Mandy made herself useful by helping him pull up dandelions from the garden; and Toby _also_ made himself very useful by digging deep holes in the rhubarb patch until Mr Blunt looked over looked over the fence at him and said, “I can see _you’ve_ been making yourself useful,” in a very stern voice, which didn’t sound at all pleased no matter what words he was saying. Then he dragged the dog out of the garden and tied him up with a bit of twine and told Milly-Molly-Mandy and Billy if they filled in the holes again he’d give them a penny to share between them, and left shaking his head and laughing a bit, so Milly-Molly-Mandy knew it was all right after all. 

When Milly-Molly-Mandy got home, Mother was busy putting up the new curtains she had just ironed. Milly-Molly-Mandy ran out to the field where she collected cornflowers and poppies which she put in a glass vase she found in the cupboard under the kitchen sink. She carried it very carefully upstairs (so she didn't spill the water) and set it on the dresser in the spare bedroom. “Thank you Milly-Molly-Mandy,” said Mother, “You’ve been a big help,” and she gave her a kiss. And that was the best of all.


End file.
